Appearances
by Leila-Dinthalion
Summary: Toph wants to know what Aang looks like, so they stop walking as Aang tries to figure out how to make it clear to her. Sort of my parodied/original take on the 'Toph touching Aang's face' thing. Taang series, somewhat fluffy, but not without cause.
1. The Question

Ummm... yeah. This was supposed to be a quick one-shot that I was going to write before I wrote the much-awaited chapter 12 of Trying Circumstances... it kind of evolved into the first chapter of a multi chapter story... I'm sorry

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my words.**  
**

**(Appearances)**

**Chapter I (The Question)**

"What do you look like, Twinkletoes?"

Aang started and stopped walking.

_What in the world- ? Why would she ask me something like that??_

Toph stopped a few paces in front of him and turned around. Her expression lacked its usual sarcasm, but contained only curiosity. It was almost cute.

"I said 'What do you look like?' air-for-brains."

Still he could only stare at her in confusion. There was no way for him to describe himself in terms she would understand. What kind of answer was she looking for? Her curious expression had been replaced with a combination of annoyed curiosity.

Time seemed to slow down as he looked at her. Toph hardly seemed to be making sense. He realized that he had to say _something_ and managed to pull out one word from the millions of thoughts that flashed incoherently through his head.

"Wh- why?"

Toph heaved a dramatic sigh and took a step closer to him. She crossed her arms over her slight chest and rolled her eyes.

_Are her cheeks… slightly pink? Nah._

"Because I'm blind, curious, and felt like asking."

Aang raised an eyebrow as he set his pack on a rock just off the side of the road. He'd known Toph long enough to know that she didn't usually give a reason for anything she did or said. She'd just given him three, albeit somewhat flimsy, reasons. He knew that she wasn't going to let this go easily.

_But, _why_ was she curious and _why _does she feel like asking? Oh well, I doubt that I'll get another set of good explanations out of her for another couple of weeks… but I still want to know._

Toph set her own pack down next to his and lifted her body up onto the rock. Aang sat himself down next to her. He glanced up at the sun, trying to gauge what time it was. Depending on how long they stopped here, they probably wouldn't make it to the next village by nightfall. That meant another night out in the woods, but he knew that Toph didn't mind or care. She was usually more at home camped outside than she was tucked into a bed at an inn.

"So, tell me what you look like."

She turned towards him and politely waited for his answer. Most unlike her, she must really want to know. It would have been so much easier for Aang if he knew what he was going to say.

* * *

**A/N: **Once again, this was meant to be a short one shot, but it turned into my personal take on the whole 'Toph touching Aang's face' idea. It's not really gonna be that way though... I swear that I'll get working on chapter 12 of Trying Circumstances ASAP!

Review and I'll be happy! Don't and I'll send pirate!Appa and pirate!Momo into your dreams to pursue you forever!!1!1!1


	2. Mere Words

This Chapter II of Appearences, have fun and don't do drugs.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my words.

**(Appearances)**

**Chapter II (Mere Words)**

Aang sighed. Why did Toph have to be so difficult? Why did she have to ask so difficult questions? And _why_ in the world did she feel compelled to ask him right _now_?

_Because she's Toph, I guess…_

Several minutes had passed since his blind friend had asked him to tell her what he looked like. He was still no closer to an answer, and she hadn't said anything. They were still just sitting side by side on a boulder just off the well-worn trail they were, or rather, had been, following. She was just sitting there staring straight forward as she leaned back on her hands. She hadn't said anything, and he didn't know what to say.

_Perhaps… I can get away by giving her no answer? I could just tell her that I just _can't_ describe myself to-_

"You're not getting out of this one, you know."

Aang looked at her. Toph had known him for almost four years now. She knew the cadences of his pulse and heartbeat so well that sometimes he swore that she could read his mind.

"I know what you're thinking, and you can stop formulating plans to get around the question. I know that it's difficult but please, just try. I'm not moving until I get a good answer… and no. You won't be able to carry me away either."

Aang muttered mutinously under his breath.

… _this is as hopeless as making a house out of sand… wait a minute…! I've got an idea!_

Without so much as a preamble, Aang started into his explanation with only a barest understanding of where he was going.

"Ok, I've got it, Toph! Here, take my hand. That's it. Now you feel my skin, right?"

"… yes?"

"Now, you can't see it, right?

"No duh."

"Well, my skin looks like the sand in the desert. It's smoother, but it's like sand in its color. And here, trace your finger here, and here."

Aang led her finger over his tattoos on his hands, and then moved her finger to his forehead to trace the arrow there.

"Feel this shape? It's an arrow, and they're tattooed onto my my forehead and back, hands and arms, and my feet and legs. They're blue, like the sky. They feel the same as the rest of my skin, but belong with the wind of the air. It's an airbender thing."

"What about your face?"

"My eyes are like storm clouds. We call it 'grey'. They're like the clouds in the sky, or the dust from the corners of Zuko's palace. They're round, in circles. There are these smaller circles in the center, called pupils. They're black, like night. It's the absence of color. My lips, they're kind of pinkish, like that clay that we found in that one village, don't you remember. They're soft, like that clay. My nose is like the rest of my face, only it sticks out, like yours, only it sticks out more."

Aang looked at her expectantly. He hoped that this explanation would satisfy her. He'd tried to relate himself to things that she knew and recognized, like the clay. He looked down in slight embarrassment when she remained silent. He felt himself pinking even more when he realized that he was still holding her hand in both of his.

"Well, wasn't that poetic. You could give Sokka a run for his money among the Ba Sing Se poetry clubs, you know. Well said indeed. Unfortunately, your pretty words are wasted on me. I can understand your description of textures well enough, and you did pretty well, but it's not good enough."

_Spirits, and I thought that I had it there too… ah well, maybe now she'll let us go._

"Nope. No easy way out for you, Twinkletoes."

Aang sighed and put his chin in his hands. He yelped in surprise as Toph punched him on his back.

"Sit up straight, Twinkletoes! You'll get bad posture sitting like that."

* * *

**A/N: **Aang is trying to answer Toph, but she's not satisfied. Maybe he'll get it right next chapter... but only if you review!

Ok, some very quick explanations for this story idea: Ok, every Taang/Toko/Tokka/TophxSomeone shipper and their mother's second cousin have written a 'Toph touching her love's face to see them' type fic. I figured that I was going to write my own and email my mother's second cousin. That was the start of this. I was going to put a real funny twist on my 'touching face' one-shot and that was going to be the end of it. ... ... ... Then the plotbunnies took the idea and ran with it. I ended up writing about three chapters of this story in one sitting, most unlike me, and had my mind flooded with ideas for more! Thus was **Appearenes** born. I'll eventually lead the story back to the original idea... maybe.

Now, REVIEW!


	3. Tracing Tattoos

sigh. The chapters of this story keep getting longer and longer...

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my words.

**(Appeareances)**

**Chapter III (Tracing Tattoos)**

A few minutes had passed since his last failure at describing himself to Toph. Fancy words and analogies just weren't enough, it seemed. The silence wasn't awkward, just quiet. Aang looked at Toph when she broke it.

"So… those 'blue' tattoos that you mentioned earlier, they look like arrows, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Where do the arrows go?"

Aang blinked at her. Nobody had ever asked him anything like that… then again, he'd never met someone who couldn't see for themselves where they went.

"Well… ummm… here, give me your hand again. I'm going to guide it along the path they follow."

Aang guided her hand up his other arm and around his elbow. She had to shift closer to him as he slid her arm under his shirt in order to reach his underarm.

"And that's where it the arrow on my arm ends. It's the same on my other arm."

"Hmmm… you're pretty ticklish under your arm, right?"

"Yeah, why do you a- "

Aang cut himself off in a fit of hysterical laughter. Toph had started tickling him, and was showing no mercy. She used her other arm to pin his arm down while she tickled him. He tried to fight back and get up, but Toph was way ahead of him. She blocked his every move to get up, and eventually ended up sitting herself on his abdomen. He was tortured for another few minutes; he laughed until he couldn't breathe. Finally, she stopped tickling him and started to get off.

He tried to get back at her, but she blocked all of his attempts and he eventually gave up. Sitting back and taking deep breaths, he muttered mutinously as Toph caught her breath.

"What (deep breath) was that (deep breath, deep breath) for?!"

"… hehe. (somewhat deep breath) You were just so open, you were asking for it so much." She chuckled. "I couldn't resist. No apologies will be forthcoming, so don't hold your breath." She turned her head up towards him, her face was the picture of irony. "Not, I think, that you could manage a deep breath anyway."

Aang huffed and turned his torso away from her. He made certain to sit up straight this time, Toph's punch had hurt earlier.

_What were we doing before she brutally attacked me? Oh yeah, she was tracing my arm tattoo._

Aang felt a slight heat rise to his cheeks as he remembered the way it had felt when her hand had slid up his arm, under his sleeve. He tried to still his heart and pulse before Toph noticed anything amiss.

"So," said Aang loudly in an attempt to distract Toph from the fact that he was blushing and his heart was doubtless betraying him, "uh, didn't you want to know where my other tattoos went?"

She turned her face up towards him with some slight suspicion, but not the taunting face she would have worn if she knew that he'd blushed. That was good, crisis averted.

"Yeah, there's another on your forehead, right? And a pair on you feet."

Aang smiled. For once, it seemed, he had managed to distract Toph from something he didn't want her to notice.

"That's right. I have five blue arrows, which were chosen because of the Sky Bison, like Appa."

"Can I see them?"

Aang blinked in confusion several times before he understood what she was asking.

"Oh, ummm… yeah. Here, place your hand on my forehead. That's the arrow's point. From there, it continues straight around to the other side of my head and down my back."

Aang only just managed to resist a start as she started to move her hand back along to his crown of his bald head. She hadn't even waited for him to guide her hand. He found himself lost for words as she continued to move her hand farther, it was at the nape of his neck now.

_Say _something, _you stupid airhead!_

"Ah, Toph."

He hand stopped moving just under the collar of his shirt. She had needed to move closer in order to get that far, and kneeling _very_ close to him. It was rather disconcerting.

It was silent for a few moments, then Toph sighed and asked, "_What_ is it, Twinkletoes?"

Aang hesitated before answering. "Well, ummm, you see, Toph-"

"Oh just spit it out already."

She hadn't moved her hand, and the fact that her face was so close to hers made Aang uncomfortable.

"It's just that I feel kind of awkward about this. I mean, we're not even ten feet from a fairly well-traveled road. It would be really, really awkward if some traveler just walked by and saw me, the Avatar, with a girl's hand down my the back of my shirt."

Aang cringed and waited for her rebuke and the physical blow that would doubtless come with it. He opened an eye several seconds later when nothing happened.

She (still) hadn't moved her hand somewhere more comfortable, and was looking at him strangely. If Aang hadn't known her better, he would have said that she looked almost, possibly, somewhat thoughtful. But he knew her better than that.

"Ok. Then let's move to the other side of the boulder."

Aang bit his lip, but agreed and started to move his pack and his body over to the other side of the boulder they were sitting on. It flared up a bit in the middle, so they wouldn't be visible from the road.

_Toph is being _way_ too agreeable… it doesn't make sense._

Aang had the feeling that _something_ was up with Toph. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was, somehow, playing right into her hands.

He wasn't reassured at all when she kneeled next to him, facing the opposite direction like before, and reached her arm around his neck.

* * *

**A/N: **What is Toph playing at? What's going happen? Will this be enough to answer Toph's question?

The answers will only become apparent if you review!


	4. Personal Space

As promised to RiaKitsuneYoukai, here is the next chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my words.

**(Appearences)**

**Chapter IV (Personal Space)**

Aang's heart, stomach, and the rest of his internal organs all seemed to jump into his throat, and for a few moments he couldn't breathe. Toph seemed to be unaware of this however and continued to reach her arm down the back of his shirt.

As her right hand moved down, following the tattoos she couldn't see, her left hand had pulled the string around his collar, loosing it so that her arm would fit. He had thought that she was close before, but now she was _really_ close.

_Uhhh… this close. Toph. Happened not. Errr…_

She shifted her weight and was almost in his lap when her fingers brushed against his scar and the sensitive nerve there.

"Ahh- " He just managed to bite down a scream of pain.

"Twinkletoes! I'm sorry, are you all right?" Her words tumbled out in a concerned tone.

Her hand had come to rest just over his scar, her fingers feeling around the edges of it. Most of her arm was down his shirt, and his sudden cry and jerk had startled her so that her knees were now on either side of his.

"Aang, are you OK? Answer me."

He blinked to find Toph's eyes gazing intently into his from only a handspan away. Her left hand was grasping his chin, forcing him to look at her. He had never seen her eyes so close before.

"Yeah… sorry Toph, I'm fine."

She gave him a suspicious look and removed her hand from his chin… only to flick his nose.

"Good, then don't scare me like that again."

She withdrew her hand from his shirt and wrapped both of her arms around his neck for the briefest of moments before removing herself from his lap to sit beside him.

_Toph… isn't scared easily or often. She gives hugs even more scarcely. _

They sat silently next to each other for a couple of minutes. Aang felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he remembered the feeling of Toph's hands on his back, and the intense look in her eyes when her face was so close to his.

_Please don't let her know I'm blushing. Please don't let her know I'm blushing. Please don't-_

"So do I get to see the others?"

Toph startled Aang from his thoughts.

"Uhhh… you mean the ones on my legs?"

Toph rolled her blind eyes at him as she set her head to an angle. "Duh."

"All right, you can see them." He said as he swung his legs off the side of the rock and into Toph's lap. She put her hands on his bare feet, he had taken to going barefoot lately, like Toph, and ran a hand over the soles of his feet.

"You've been training well, Twinkletoes," She smiled at him.

Aang beamed under her rare praise and scooted a bit farther from the edge and a bit closer to Toph. She placed her first two fingers on top of his foot.

"Is this the arrowhead?"

"Not exactly, let me show you." He placed his hand over hers and guided it around the outline of the arrow. He continued to guide her hand up the path of the arrow until it turned at his knee and went under his pants leg, which was tight at his knee.

"… where does it go from here?"

"Uhhh, under my pants."

"Can't I see it?"

"… Its under my pants."

Toph rolled her eyes at him and leaned in close. Her voice was softer than before, but Aang felt even more scared when she challenged him, her lips mere inches from his ear.

"So take them off."

* * *

**A/N: **Are you happy now, Riia? I hope that you like it!

Review if you want any more.


	5. New Suggestion

Sorry for the hiatus. I added some stuff here to make up for it. Hope ya like!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my words.

**(Appearences)**

**Chapter V (New Suggestion)**

"So take them off."

Her words echoed inside his head and Aang felt his face go hot enough to fry a turtleduck egg. Close as she was, she could probably feel the heat radiating from his skin. The forest was abnormally quiet, and Aang felt suspense grow with every moment. It was as though the entire world was leaning hin, awaiting his response.

_Could she seriously have just asked that? … … No way. … … Then why is she staring at me expectantly? … … Because she seriously just asked me to TAKE MY PANTS OFF!_

Two minutes later, Aang's face was still bright red and Toph was still staring at him.

_Maybe she just… fogot what she said…_

Aang's thoughts were immediately proven wrong when, without warning and acting as though it was the completely normal thing to do, Toph moved her hands to his waistline and started undoing his belt.

"TOPH!?" Aang screamed in surprise and embarressment as he jumped backwards by reflex, cracking his head on the rock behind him in the process.

"Ow! Roku's _pants_, Toph. What the hell did you think you were doing? Oh, my head… "

Aang curled his knees up to his chest and half turned away from her, cradling his head.

"I'm sorry, Twinkletoes," she said from behind him. He heard her crawl closer. "Is your head all right? I felt that one. I think you may have damaged the rock."

She gripped his shoulder with her hand and Aang turned to find her smiling his favorite crooked smile. He couldn't help but smile back.

"That's all right, Toph. Just freaked me out for a second there." He gave a slightly nervous chuckle as his face colored from memory. She hadn't let go of his shoulder when he turned to face her and Aang found himself leaning into her shoulder a bit. It was the right height to rest his head on. He was just getting comfortable when she replied.

"Yeah," she said, "why'd you react like a badgermole dropped into a campfire anyway?"

He turned his head (without removing it from her shoulder) towards her with disbelief.

_She… can't be serious… can she?_

"Well Toph," he began, "its not like you asked me to take my pants off or anything." He gave a slight snort of humor at something that hadn't been funny two minutes ago. "I mean, think about it. What if I just up and asked you to take your shirt off?"

He looked up at her satisfied that he had communicated his point. He was slightly troubled that she didn't look like she had understood.

"So… you're saying that if I take my shirt off, then you'll take your pants off?"

_She… could not just have said that. But, she probably did because Toph seems to be going against any and all preconceptions I have about her behavior today. I need to steer this conversation in another direction. _Any_ direction other than the removal of clothing and nudity._

Aang was sure that his shock for the day must be used up, because he hardly felt embarressed when he responded. "No, Toph. Just… You missed my point. It doesn't matter though. Can we just drop the tattoos for a couple of minutes?"

She smiled at him again. "Sure. How about just relaxing for a bit, resting your head?"

He didn't even reply as he made himself comfortable and the next several minutes passed in relative peace.

_For such a tough, hard person, Toph has a soft, comfortable shoulder. I wonder if she'll let me go to sleep…_

The moment was perfect. His head on her shoulder. Her arm around his shoulders. His arm around her waist…

_Wait a minute… when did that get there?_

Aang sat up and pulled away in surprise. He looked at Toph, but didn't see curiosity or confusion at his sudden movement. Only a foreboding grin and mischief in her eyes.

"You still haven't answered my question, Twinkletoes, but don't worry. I have an idea, and it might even make your head feel better too."

* * *

**A/N: **Muahahaha! I seem to be making Toph act very, very evil lately. I'm sure you don't mind much. I plan on finishing this fic by the end of June, it might even happen if you review.


End file.
